shooting rapids on the Mekong!

We chose the slow boat to come to Laos from the north of Thailand. Charming. A 50 metre-long steel-hulled, diesel-powered boat with a beam of about five metres and draught of probably 1.5m. Crammed full of teak pews and tourists, the boat set off at midday after we'd boarded a couple of hours earlier, having cleared Laos immigration before that. The trip was to last two days, with a stop at Pak Beng, a river town isolated but for river traffic.

The Mekong's a powerful river, especially during the monsoon, though Laos people have since told us that the river's flow is dictated more by Chinese hydro-power requirements than by rainfall. Swirling with whirlpools and eddies, cut by standing waves barely concealing snags and rocks and peppered with flotsam large and small, the river's not somewhere you'd choose to swim. Treacherous. It's the colour of strong tea with condensed milk. We got close to the action by sitting on the prow of the boat for a couple of hours during the trip, Em's suggestion and with the hard-won permission of the captain. The river is the main means of communication in these parts - there are no roads (the terrain being so steep), and all commerce and transport proceed via the Mekong. It seems everyone's got a boat, of which there seem to be only about five designs, from canoe- to freighter-sized, so whether fishing, working or going to school, it's on the water. The boatmanship is incredible too - shooting the rapids is no exaggeration, and the way Mr. Captain and his son handled our vessel was truly expert. Thankfully!

As it has been throughout our time in Thailand and Laos, the scenery was a blowout! Very steep hills both sides, sheer cliffs at times, lushly green whether cultivated or wild jungle, and seemingly always capped by either morning mist or thunderheads. Settlements along the way ranged in size from around 200 people at Pak Beng to single houses, nearly all made from teak and bamboo, roofed with banana-leaves and surrounded by just enough carefully cultivated crop to support a family.

So we're in Luang Prabang now, the end of our river journey. Back to the world of broadband and backpackers for a short time before we head somewhere more remote again.

Just before we headed to Laos...

So, yes, we hired a little motorbike and went for a five-day spin around the highlands of Thailand. Caves, village life, waterfalls, monsoon rains, roadworks, roadside bbq's - lots of fun and it felt like an adventure. We stayed in one little guest house that served only food grown on the property (that's where Em learned to plant rice), and in another which was an initiative in support of 'unfortunate children', who by their giggling, singing and other shrill antics clearly felt themselves anything but unlucky!



We boated through an incredible cave, rode up into the border hills to visit a tribal village and then to Thailand's highest point, Doi Inthanon, which at more than 2565m is well higher than Aust's highest. No snow, but chilly and very thick fog, and in a national park that boasts wild elephants and big cats, but no tigers since a few decades ago.

Having our own transport for those few days meant we could get well out of the tourist trail (although the monsoon season is just starting so numbers are down anyway), and that allowed us close contact with rural people quite unused to foreigners. We'd probably call them peasant farmers, and maybe consider them to be living in poverty, but, like the 'unfortunate children', the overwhelming impression they gave was one of contentment.

Sabi-dee Laos

Now on the banks of the Mekong, about to embark on a two day slow-boat journey into Laos. We've each bought a pillow for 50 baht, and a bottle of rum for 150 baht to soften the trip :) Reckon we've got a recipe for a few good pics, will endeavour to upload them when we can.

Thanks for your comment, Andrea - there's a response in the comments. We'd welcome comments from others, too - we're missing you!

Lots of love to all, E&A xx

Beautiful Thailand!

Now we've guessed our way through the blog website in Thai - we can let you know we're having a BLAST!

We got off the tourist trail almost immediately - hired a 250cc bike from chiang mai and reduced our bags even smaller (now only have a toothbrush and the clothes we are wearing) and are on the mae hong son loop. eating in very small thai houses, Andy trying everything (see the look on his face when he thought he bought a bag of soft chocolate and ended with a mouth full of fish paste!)...

... staying in the most out of the way guesthouses, last night we stayed at mae lana, up an amazing valley nothing but mist and mountains and rice paddies around, and today 'grew' (planted) rice with the locals!

Today we also took a goat track up the steepest mountains imaginable through the jungle all the way, and made it to the myanmar border. we went through road block after road block, and the army men had bigger guns and bigger smiles the closer we got. ... by the time we got to the top, the sergeant with a sub-machine gun sold us a chang beer, taught us 'good luck' in thai 'chock dee na ka/krup') and after a companionable exchange, sent us back the way we came of course with a big smile. fantastic! its now teeming with monsoon rain .... yay! for Thailand. x

Swagging in the loungeroom

We’re writing this first entry from our swag in front of the living room fire in the Dandenong Ranges, having packed up the house ready to go. We’ve debated boot selection and packing lists, (although we never actually made a list). Jeans or zip-off tourist pants? (Or six skirts, or just two?) Boots for hiking, or boots for biking? I-pod or no? Africa, or South America? Two days before we leave, the bike’s been on a ship for so long we can’t remember what we’ve packed! And lucky we’ve got no itinerary, its already been delayed a week...

We have had some misgivings about gallivanting around the world, burning fuel to move us, tent and motorcycle, when in our daily lives we do our best to tread lightly on the earth. For our trip we inquired with our travel agent about carbon offsetting our flight. She handed us the brochure, and told us ‘many people comment about what a good idea this is, but not that many actually do it’. So we offset – $190 for two-one way tickets to the UK. This $190 has (partly) assuaged our conscience (at least for the flight), though it’s hard to know how good such carbon-sink initiatives actually are. Check out http://www.sinkswatch.org/ if you’re interested. Speak to you from Thailand!

Oh, and if you want to stay updated, please subscribe to our blog. There's a link on this page. You're also welcome to write us messages - again, look for the link and sign the guestbook. It'd be great to hear from you!

E + A.